Manufacture of shaped articles of casein



Patented Apr. 5,1927.

UNITED STATES 'AMANDUS BABTELS AND OTTO MIECTI,

OF HABBUBG-ON-THE-EL BE, GERMANY.

unnurnc'runn or snarnn ARTICLES or casnm.

No Drawing. l plication filed larch 24, 1928,

The usual method of manufacturing shaped articles from artificial horn made of casein consists in obtaining roughly formed pie ees from already hardened bars or plates by cutting, stamping or in some other manner, which are thereupon-heated lip to about 100 in an oil bath or some other suitable way and given their finished form by pressing. The disadvantages of this method are the very laborious and costly operations involved, the difliculty of utilizin the waste often produced in large quantities and the, danger of the finished articles becoming deformed when in'use, for instance owing to the action of moisture. It has already been proposed to produce shaped articles in a similar manner to the way-bars and lates have hitherto been produced, viz, by 1st pressing the casein material and thereupon to harden and dry the articles so formed. But this method has not been adopted in ractice in the art for the production of t e actual shaped articles, as the shaped articles become deformed during the hardenin and drying operation, and it is not possible by subsequent treatment to obtain articles that will really keep their shape when in use. 7

According to the new method shaped articles may be successfully reduced from the casein material beforejt .-1S hardened or after it has been treated only with weak hardening agents, which by subsequent hardening and drying give products which keep their form well. This is effected by usin for the manufacture of the shaped artic es separate pieces of a relatively dry casein material containing about 20% or slightly less water. The separate pieces of a suitable size and form and a. content of 'water am'ountin preferably to between 12 and 16% are so ened by the action of heat for instance in a current of hot air, in steam, a .hot liquid which has no detrimental action on the casein material or by means of any suitable heating device, given their final form, hardened, dried and if necessary, subsequently operated upon. The casein material which is treated in this way, may be obtained from slightly moistened casein or a casein mixture, for instance by kneading under high pressure, the water content being so small as not to exceed 20%. This relatively dry material may be used directly in the formof pieces out from the extruded Serial No. 97,141, and in Germany May 15, 1923.

counters and the like. According to the length for the manufacture of buttons,

present invention the pieces cut from the extruded length or formed in some other way may be preliminarily dried, until they are about as dry as the surrounding air, that is contain from 10 to14r% of water. On the otherhand the casein material obtained by any process and having any water content may be used for the separate and preliminarily formed pieces after being subjected to a preliminary drying operation until thewater content is 20% or less, so that they are approximately as dry as the surrounding air. I

The new process, in which the manufacture of-the artificial horn from casein and of the finished articles of all kinds from the same are completely combined, is particularly suitable for the manufacture on a large scale of handles, buttons, toy'buildingbricks,

rings, ornaments, bars of different shape and size and thelike. It is a special'advantage of the new process that the-formed pieces are hardened much more rapidly. When working up the moistened casein or casein mixture to form the mass a entshaving a slight hardening action may e added. The artlcles formed from this mass need only be immersed for a short time in an. effective hardenin bath, for instance, a solution of formaldehyde, it being only necessary for the su rficial layer to be subsequently hard ened fb r ensuring that the articles will retain their shape. 1 T

For giving them a preliminary hardening the separate pieces may first be immersed in a bath having a weak action and consisting for instance of solutions of aluminum salts or other metal salts having a hardening action on casein, of tannic acids or other acids having such a h'ardenin action, but preferably in a bath of forma dehyde. comounds having a slight hardenin action, or instance hexamethylentetramm, until they are hardened right through. The se arate-pieces even after being dried in t is manner may be softened and succmfully pressed and stamped. Through this ienus if the ordinary casein massrwere made directly into shaped articles cannot possibly occur.

Having now'particularly described and :ascertained the nature of our said invention and in what manner the same is to be .per-

- formed, we declare that what we claim is:

2. A method of manufacturing shaped ar-' ticles from artificial horn made from casein consisting in producing from non-hardened casein material separate pieces corresponding in size and sha to the desired product, with such -mater1al containing approximately' between 7 and 17% of water, rapidly softening such pieces b the action of moist heat, treating such pieces to give them their final form, and'finally hardening and drying the pieces. a

3. A method of manufacturing shaped a'rticles from artificial horn made from casein consisting in 'p'roducin separate ieces of the size and shape of t e final p uctypreliminarily hardening agent, drying such pieces until treating such pieces by a weak they contain a suitable water content approximating 17%, softenin under the action of heat an finally shaping the pieces so softened into their required final form.

4. A method of manufacturing shaped articles from artificial horn made from casein consisting in producing separate the size and shape of the final pro uct, preliminarily treating such pieces by a weak hardening agent, drying such pieces until they contain a suitable water content approximating 17 softening the pieces under the action of heat and finally shaping the pieces so softened into their required final form, and thereafter treating the formed pieces to harden their superficial layer.

5. A method of manufacturing shaped articles from artificial horn made from casein consisting in dividing the casein mass into pieces corresponding to the size and she of the final product, treating the pieces in a bath having a weak hardening action, drying the, pieces to a limit of approximately 17 water content, softening the pieces by the action of heat, giving the pieces their final form under pressure, and subjecting the formed pieces to the action of a hardening agent until the superficial layer of each piece is hardened, and finally drying the pieces In testimony t-ures.

DR. AMANDUS BARTELS. OTTO MIEOH.

whereof we afiix our signathe pieces i eces of 

